The latest in Bruin football, basketball and other sports

Main menu

Post navigation

Notes and quotes: UCLA claims L.A. with 35-14 win

A roundup of the coverage in Sunday’s edition of the L.A. Daily News:
— UCLA’s 35-14 win over the Trojans gave the team rightful claim to the city, at least for another year.
— Brett Hundley had his way with USC’s defense. Will he come back to do so again?
— The Bruins’ defense held the Trojans to 314 yards, the lowest output of any UCLA opponent this season.
— The loss takes pressure off USC athletic director Pat Haden to hire interim coach Ed Orgeron.
— Columnist Tom Hoffarth shares the story of his old USC jacket, a gift long lost.

Some thoughts from the victory:

— Might as well start with some quick “we run L.A.” quotes …

— Jim Mora is clearly moving UCLA along the right path. The Bruins navigated a tougher schedule in Year Two and matched last year’s 9-3 regular-season record. They didn’t lose any games they truly deserved to win, and had a shot at beating both Arizona State and Stanford. The team couldn’t repeat as Pac-12 South champion, but the division is also much better than it’s ever been.

— Mora moved to 16-0 at UCLA when leading at halftime.

— He also became just the second coach to start his UCLA tenure 2-0 against USC. No one has ever started 3-0, and only two coaches have even finished with winning records in the rivalry: Henry “Red” Sanders (6-3), and Terry Donahue (10-9-1).

— Mora made a clear pitch to recruits after the game:

He and the staff will hit the trail all next week, and the win over USC will only help them pitch the program to top prospects.

“There’s rules where we can’t to these guys, and they’re all standing outside the locker room wanting to talk,” offensive line coach Adrian Klemm said. “That’s an exciting thing. … Hopefully, this gives us a little bit of momentum going into it.”

— The offensive line played surprisingly well after right tackle Caleb Benenoch was ejected for throwing a punch early in the game. Even Klemm sounded surprised as to how ably Ben Wysocki filled in. Normally practicing at guard, the redshirt sophomore hasn’t gotten many reps this season, and looked a guy that might transfer out once all the true freshmen come off their redshirt years.

Behind a line that likely had USC’s defensive front drooling, Brett Hundley took just two sacks.

— That said, the Trojans’ inability to adjust their gameplan was stunning. A defense that entered the game second in the Pac-12 against the run (and the pass) did little to try and contain Hundley on the ground. The redshirt sophomore scrambled for 80 yards and a pair of touchdowns, rarely facing even a spy.

“We tried everything,” Orgeron said. “We tried what we called a push rush. We started blitzing and they started blitzing us. It seemed like everything we did, they countered.”

— Pac-12 officiating is usually bad both ways, but man, Anthony Barr sure does get held a lot. His three tackles for loss gave him 41.5 over two seasons at linebacker. Remarkably, he is just four shy of tying Carnell Lake — a three-year starter on defense — for the UCLA career record.

— Running backs Jordon James’ return from a lingering ankle injury helped the Bruins balance out their offense a little more. After missing six of the last seven games, the junior had 16 carries for 54 yards and two catches for 22 yards. Redshirt freshman Paul Perkins looked impressive with 34 rushing yards and a career-high 79 receiving yards.

Myles Jack was only called upon twice: his three-yard touchdown in the first quarter, and his one-yard loss on fourth down.

— Jack actually ended up with the same yards per carry (1.0) as defensive Eddie Vanderdoes, who scored on his first career carry.

— The 21-point margin of victory was UCLA’s largest over USC since a 45-20 win in 1970.

— UCLA’s most likely postseason destination is the Sun Bowl. This could change if Oregon manages to sneak back into a BCS bowl. At least one projection has the Ducks in the Orange Bowl. If that happens, and Arizona State makes it into the Rose Bowl, the Alamo Bowl may pass up Stanford’s poor travel crowds for UCLA. San Antonio has had reps at around half of the Bruins’ games this season, and passed out flyers again Saturday night.

But really, anyone set on watching one more game in person should start looking at flights to El Paso.

Instead of blaming USC’s defense — which beat Stanford and a lot of other teams — I’d credit UCLA’s offensive line, the play-calling, and Brett.

A great effort all the way around.

facescar

To be fair, that first half vs. ASU was incredibly disappointing.

jameskatt

UCLA’s head was not in the game that first half.

EncinitasBruin

Good morning, Bruin Nation. It’s GREAT to be a Bruin, isn’t it?! Can anyone say, “Blowout”!? Two in a row, first win in the Colli since ’97, domination of the line of scrimmage… Honestly, I did not think our patchwork line would be able to withhold SC’s talented front 7. I was envisioning 8-9 sacks on BH, lots of 3rd-and-6 situations, and a drown-out by the crowd. But Hundley, Marsh, Perkins, James, Jack, and especially our man, Barr, never gave the crown anything to cheer about. Man, watching our “Baby Bruin” OL push around SC’s NFL prospects made me so proud. UCLA wanted that game more: they had a better game plan (Mora clearly outcoached Coach O); we had more and better athletes–it’s been a long time since you could say that (1998); and other than the stupid personal fouls at the beginning (i.e. Bennenoch), we made zero mental errors (zero turnovers). Also, Ishmael Adams is going to be A LOT of fun to watch over the next three years. Finally, does anyone know what Hundley said to Mora right after the game when Mora said, “you’re coming back next year, right?” Go Bruins – going for win #10 in our Bowl Game!

jameskatt

Brett Hundley should come back. He needs more seasoning and experience to be a great quarterback. Otherwise, he may end up wasting his career on the bench or off the NFL.

Currently, he is the 7th best quarterback in college. He is projected to get drafter in the late 2nd or 3rd round. He won’t have leverage to get a large signing bonus – where most players get their money.

1. Brett doesn’t have the field vision that the top quarterbacks have.
2. Brett doesn’t have the quickness in reaction time that only comes from experience and practice
3. Brett gets overwhelmed under pressure of blitzes.
4. He needs a lot of help from the coaches to determine the play to call.

Brett’s slowness will be punished in the NFL. The speed is at a much higher level. And the physical punishment is at a higher level. Currently, he would be like Tim Tebow on the field.

Brett is not an Andrew Luck. The college quarterbacks ahead of him all are much quicker in reaction times since they are much better seasoned than Brett.

If he flames out, at least make money. Alex Smith flamed out as quarterback but at least he made 20 Million in his signing bonus which he gets to keep in the bank.

Joe Blow

You better pray he comes back. Without him, ucla won’t even go to any bowl.

maze949

Cheat on, B*tch! UCLA flag flying extra high in Newport Coast right now. Are you still looking for work, btw?

Joe Blow

I KNOW you’re really 909 and all you have is lousy ucla football. Enjoy beating a team that’s been down and still wining as many games as you clowns with the tide against us. You’ll never win a NC.

jameskatt

If Brett leaves, then his roommate can easily take over.

Asiantii Woulard is the top quarterback at the Elite 11 in 2012. He is the nation’s top dual-threat quarterback recruit in 2013. He looks like a clone of Brett Hundley but is quicker. Hundley has been mentoring him.

Gotta hand it to you Joe. You keep swinging…SC will improve as the scholies return. Until then keep trying, it’s fun to watch…maybe SC gets Fresno in Vegas, a fun trip and if SC shows up this year a very winnable game to end the season. Get your bus ticket.

ProbationU

Yep…SC has a great history against Fresno! Vegas will be full of Fresno State fans….SC fans won’t go to Vegas for a lower tier game that they could easily lose.

Joe Blow

I won’t be going. Waste of time. You and almost all your fans won’t be going either. You know…..it costs money.

Cheap seats

SC fan here and I have to admit that there are deeper issues: some from sanctions and some from mismanagement of talent from Kiffin.

Unless Max Browne ends up lighting it up next year, it will likely get worse before it gets better.

For you guys, everyone forgets it was a FG away from OT and a possible Rose Bowl berth. I still think there was a big leadership void left from Franklin and Fauria leaving.

disqus_9O1vSTuIcw

I agree with cheap seats, especially about Franklin. He made a lot of games easier for Hundley and the rest of the offense last season and Fauria was a red zone monster. My opinion of UCLA 2013…last years offense was better, this year the defense is better. If #17 stays they could be very good in 2014.

The talent at SC is down but it is still a destination program for a lot of high school stars. If they can get Peterson to leave Boise they will be on their way…Del Rio would be a great hire as well.

Cheap seats

People forget how DURABLE Franklin was. Not until you saw James, Thigpen, etc go down almost every week did people realize how much he was taken for granted! I thought the by committee approach would hold up at RB, but you saw some of the protection issues it also caused.

With a better D, it’s almost a wash with last year. However, with the tougher schedule and the unexpected rise ASU experienced, being “good as last year” wasn’t good enough.

The bad news for UCLA and other pac-12 south teams is that ASU looks to be even better next year.

disqus_9O1vSTuIcw

If UCLA gets Hundley to come back, stays healthy up front and at RB and gets a WR to be a stud (Fuller?) they can compete, the D should be real good even with some players moving on…Doesn’t ASU lose a lot of the D??

Cheap seats

They lose Will Sutton, which is huge. If Kelly and Co. stay another year in their system, I think they’ll be better.

I was at the game and have to admit the hoopla in the beginning felt like it was going to be a hard fought game. We even had McGinnest lead us out of the tunnel. Eventually, I felt the wind come out of our sails and it had the feel of a “pride only” game, especially when compared to the energy during the Stanford game. On the other hand, UCLA played with a sense of purpose in all phases of the game/.

I haven’t seen that many empty seats in a rivalry game in my life. I’m thinking the Thanksgiving holiday and lack of the winner advancing to something meaningful had everything to do with it?

Even prior to the game, I knew Mazzone’s offense was bad news for the overaggressive defense where Pendergast sometimes has zero coverage over the top and every DB is man-on-man. Mazzone’s spread makes you defend the swing and it prevents the D from ganging up against the inside run. USC’s D has done well against power teams like Stanford and ND while struggling against ASU. Hundley looked like Vince Young on his scrambles and I asked the Bruin fan next to me, “Where was that last week?”

I agree Mora “out coached” Ogeron, but as mentioned above, the schemes on our D is not well suited for Mazzone’s. We also had many match ups not going in our favor and Hundley seemed to find whoever Seymor was covering.

In his PC, Coach O talked about “trying everything” to stop the QB draw from the push rush and not blitzing. Funny he didn’t mention putting a spy on BH like Cravens or an extra safety (which we don’t have due to depth issues.)

Overall, a butt kicking to my boys in every facet of the game. I knew of the disadvantages mentioned above going into the game, but was hoping for a couple of turnovers, special teams break, and the usual UCLA penalties, but NONE of those came.

EncinitasBruin

Great take, as usual, CS. I think that was UCLA’s best performance of the year, from the opening whistle to the final second–quarter by quarter. Not sure if the Broncos OL could have stopped Barr and Marsh. Also, I’ve watched most of SC’s games, and think they reverted back to Kiffin-level performance. It was odd.

So what are your thoughts on the Sark hire? If CEO stays on, you could have a decent combo there… Sark took a terrible UW program and made it respectable again, but didn’t have dazzling success. Was a bit surprised Franklin wasn’t in the pic…

Cheap seats

I don’t like it. I was looking more for a guy who would bring back POWER football to USC like Coach O did.

If you’ve read my posts over on the other board, I’ve kept my stance on the spread offense. If USC is able to recruit the best talent, I truly believe a pro-style offense is the way to go.

Sarkisian ran almost a pure spread offense at Washington. This conflicts with bragging to recruits that “we give you the best chance to play in the NFL” line that we’ve been giving for decades. You don’t have to look any further than Oregon to see their list of NFL flops who lit it up in the NCAA.

In Mora’s case, it’s different. He’s a DEFENSIVE guy who hired a spread offense guy. I’d rather have that arrangement over the vice-versa.

EncinitasBruin

Good point on spread O’s. USC is stocked with classic pocket passers in Kessler, Browne, and Wittek. Do you see any of these guys stepping into a spread O if that’s what CSS implements? Kessler is not exactly fleet of foot, but I haven’t seen Browne or how he moves.

Insightful take on Oregon. As I’ve said a few times, Oregon is “new money:” Flashy, loud, over-celebrating good but not great success.

Inevitably, UW will approach Mora. I highly doubt, however, that he is going anywhere.

jameskatt

I wouldn’t buy tickets early until UCLA’s bowl destination is set. Last year I bought Alamo Bowl tickets but UCLA was sent instead to the best forgotten Holiday Bowl. I had to sell the Alamo Bowl tickets through stub hub.

Joe Blow

ucla will not play in any bowl worth a darn. Don’t travel and fans are cheap

Brewins

Hahahaha Joe Blow, hope your day is going well after that whooping, you should have nothing to say but you keep showing how ignorant you are by running your mouth further. For the second straight year, you’re the second best football team in LA!

Joe Blow

Dude, you keep making a fool of your self. Your team won a game. You did zip in the South Div, zip in the Pac 12 and not going to a BCS bowl. And your happy? Raise the bar man..

Are you really serious? Do you think SC cares about going to a lousy bowl? There’s #1 and then there’s the rest. Once you get there, which you won’t, you’ll understand. Say what you want, yesterday meant nothing……to SC.

bruinbiochem06

Of course yesterday meant nothing to SUC now that they lost… LOL Bailey was quoted saying he had this game circled before the season started. You keep trying to down-play the loss but we all know it’s tearing you up inside. You keep saying another down year for SUC. Well, get used to it, next year will be worse.

Joe Blow

You’re full of it. To you losers, beating SC is EVERYTHING. I could care less. If we aren’t in a BCS game, it means zip. Next year may be worse. But keep this in mind, when fucla dominated in the 90’s, no NC, no nothing. When we dominated in the 2000’s, TWO national titles (yes, AP, but better than NONE like you). You’re happy beating SC. Beating you dogs means very little if we aren’t in the national conversation.

Meant nothing. Now the whole Trogan army is talking HC will be announced by the end of the week. Sounds like scared boosters to me.. And sorry Coach O you good but not that good here is some $$$ so PLEASE dont leave..

Some probably are. Me? I knew we ere so-so. You? Your not smart enough to know ucla is just a mediocre program that beat a lousy SC team. Simple. When you win a NC, Heisman, Butkus, etc., give me a call. Until then, hahahahahahahahaha

Marc

Um, what your attempting to do is called “moving the goalposts”.

We Bruins know that there’s a lot still to do to get to the mountain top; what happened last night is another step in that direction.

By soundly beating a 9-win u$c team in their home helps to solidify UCLA as THE destination for the top recruits to come play. It also acts as a display of u$c’s continued fall…

UCLA is on their way to NC discussion, that’s for sure. And, they are doing it in such a way that the NCAA won’t come and take it back a few years later (cough, cough).

ucla hasn’t been in that discussion since 1954. You guys clown yourselves. Win something big, then talk. You’ve done nothing. And yes, we were a 9 win so so squad. I can see why you’re all so happy, having such low goals.

Always good to celebrate a win over our dreaded cross town rival. Hopefully we will be able to build on this and have an even better year next year and take it to the next level by contending for one of the bcs bowl berths. Go Bruins!!!!!

Just kidding. Nobody expects that much from you. Shame is an emotion of a person with self respect. The sad fact is nobody expects anything worthwhile from you.

People on this board comment back to you as a mere aspect of their humanity. You comment on this board as a failure of humanity. You mock SC as a so-so team, but you barely even rank as human and we all think that is a great loss to humanity that you do so.

JB get off our Bruin board already. Y’all lost to your rival and will probably lose even worse next season. Deal with it! While UCLA is on it’s way up in talent, recruiting, & success y’all are stuck in no where land and have a declining program. So keep on truckin around here man there’s nothing you can say that’s worth anything other then just running your sorry mouth. GO BRUINS’

Jacob Ramir

We got a very young team who is on the rise! Were no where near the top. CJM will make another huge step with the team next year, watch! I know for certain that we will win a NC before SUC wins one again! That place is turning into a dump again. Just like the90s before Chete Carroll. Weve won 11 of 21! 8 Straight, Blow this Joe!

Archives

Archives

Comments policy

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@langnews.com.